Too windy

The only year tick achieved today concerned two House Martins flying around Netherstead Farm. We saw these shortly after arriving, but it soon became apparent that the strong southerly wind was going to hamper our chances of finding passerine migrants.

What it did seem to do was produce unexpectedly high numbers of large Gulls flying south, we counted 40 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and eight Herring Gulls by mid morning. The main pool now contained even more Tufted Ducks, a new record count of 15, mainly drakes, and a pair of Gadwall which we unfortunately flushed.

Nine Tufted Ducks and a Coot swim through the scope.

 After I failed to get all 15 Tufted Ducks in same same shot, we moved on to the flashes, which now contained  four Green Sandpipers and 17 Teal. Earlier we had flushed a flock of about 100 thrushes, only Fieldfares were identified, but they were blown towards the north and we failed to relocate them.

The route back produced a butterfly sp for Dave, probably Small Tortoiseshell, but I missed it and this is now officially the longest I have ever gone from the start of a year without seeing a butterfly. We heard a Blackcap singing from Stapenhill Wood, but that was about it. Dave had to leave at 11.00, and I decided to head back to the flashes to see if anything else had dropped in. En route I met another birder, probably the rarest event at Morton this year, a lady called Carol. We succeeded in finding a pair of Shelducks as they flew in.

The pair of Shelduck

Nothing much else was in evidence, and I headed home.

This has been the poorest year I have ever experienced here. No Curlews or Grey Partridges are left, and it looks as though even Tree Sparrow has now been lost as my single sighting in February has not been followed by any more. As far as migrants are concerned, we have been living on scraps since the Wood Sandpipers left last August.